Artist: Terry Tucker

Terry Tucker was a student in Charles Beck’s art class when Beck asked him to create a piece to contrast with the straight lines of the bricks on the wall of the Fergus Falls campus library.

Beck requested something that was not overwhelming in color but that would soften the angles of the bricks and create movement. Designed in the spring of 1972, Tucker’s four panels on the south wall of the library are acrylic on 4-by-8 sheets of Styrofoam; several of the pieces include foam rubber for texture.

Tucker, who had previously done other abstract work, said he was honored to be approached by Beck since there were many talented artists in the class. Beck, he said, could see art potential in everyone.

Tucker earned his AA degree from M State and a degree in Special Education at Minnesota State University Moorhead, then taught at Dickinson High School in Dickinson, N.D., for eight years before becoming special education director for 21 North Dakota school districts. He retired to the Battle Lake area after 30 years in the director position and, although he didn’t pursue art personally, he has great appreciation for the arts and admires the talents of local artists.